HS-LS4-4
Construct an explanation based on evidence for how natural selection leads to adaptation of populations.
- Life
How a moth went to the dark side
Peppered moths and some butterflies are icons of evolution. Now scientists have found a gene responsible for making them so.
- Oceans
Polar bears swim for days as sea ice retreats
Melting sea ice is forcing polar bears to swim long distances — up to nine days in one case. Such long treks may be more than the bears can handle.
- Humans
Slicing meat may have aided human evolution
An experiment with modern-day humans shows how slicing meat could have saved human ancestors energy — and let their bodies and brains get bigger.
- Animals
Mates or survival: Which explains a bird’s color?
When male birds are brightly colored, we assume that’s because their plumage attracts the gals. But a new study with thousands of museum specimens shows that sometimes survival is just as important a factor behind bird color.
- Animals
Ocean animals have mushroomed in size
Compared to a half-billion year ago, sea creatures are, on average, roughly 150 times bigger, a new study finds.
- Fossils
Dinos ‘quickly’ shrunk into birds
Scientists had long known birds descended from dinosaurs. A study now shows that the morphing from dinos into birds went along with a quick and steady shrinking of their body sizes.
- Fossils
This dino-bird is super-feathered
This late-Jurassic dino was also a bird. Its ample coat of feathers emerged before any need for flight.
- Animals
When a species can’t stand the heat
When temperatures rise, New Zealand’s tuatara produce more males. With global warming, that could leave the ancient reptile species with too few females to avoid going extinct.
- Life
Caught in the act
Scientists observe some evolutionary speed demons as they adapt over the course of just a few years to new environmental conditions.
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- Fossils
A really big (but extinct) rodent
A rodent about the size of a bison once roamed the riverbanks of ancient Venezuela.
